Labor's Edge: Views from the California Labor Movement

Thousands of Union Volunteers Mobilize Across California to Get Out the Vote in Last Four Days

An army of union volunteers will fan out across California in the final four days of election 2018 to turn out voters for federal, state and local candidates who stand with working people on critical issues like health care, good jobs, infrastructure investment and resisting the toxic agenda of Donald Trump.

The statewide get-out-the-vote (GOTV) effort is California labor’s largest ever in a midterm election, with as many as 20,000 volunteers knocking doors, making phone calls and emailing and texting voters. The California Labor Federation, affiliate unions and central labor councils have already made more than 5 million voter contacts through conversations, mail and digital outreach.

The top priorities include flipping as many as nine congressional seats, electing proven leaders like Tony Thurmond, Ricardo Lara and Gavin Newsom to statewide offices and supporting champions for working people in the State Assembly and Senate. In addition, the Labor Federation joins the State Building and Construction Trades Council in a massive effort to mobilize voters against the harmful Proposition 6 measure.

“There’s no communication with a voter more valuable than an in-person conversation,” said Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation. “Unions won’t ever be able to outspend our billionaire opponents but our ace in the hole is making direct contact with working people to have real discussions about the stakes in this election. In the next four days, we’ll have more of those conversations than we’ve ever had in the closing days of an election. We fully expect this massive ground game will be pivotal in a number of close races around the state.”

A full list of California Labor Federation endorsements can be found here.